Pay Monsanto, or starve

As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations -- which can include seeds the Iraqis themselves developed over hundreds of years. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples.

When former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator L. Paul Bremer III left Baghdad after the so-called "transfer of sovereignty" in June 2004, he left behind the 100 orders he enacted as chief of the occupation authority in Iraq. Among them is Order 81 on "Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety."

The CPA has made it illegal for Iraqi farmers to re-use seeds harvested from new varieties registered under the law. Iraqis may continue to use and save from their traditional seed stocks or what’s left of them after the years of war and drought, but that is the not the agenda for reconstruction embedded in the ruling. The purpose of the law is to facilitate the establishment of a new seed market in Iraq, where transnational corporations can sell their seeds – genetically modified or not, which farmers would have to purchase afresh every single cropping season.

In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations. The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer.

In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve! Iraq's freedom and sovereignty will remain questionable for as long as Iraqis do not have control over what they sow, grow, reap and eat.

REFERENCES
From Grain.org Visit http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6. GRAIN and Focus' report is entitled "Iraq's new patent law: a declaration of war against farmers".

Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety Law of 2004, CPA Order No. 81, 26 April 2004, http://www.iraqcoalition.org/ regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81 _Patents_Law.pdf

Monthly Natter

We are off and running! Great meeting in Feb where we decided few things about structure of group, and thanks to Derek & Kaye, a wonderful basket of all their hard efforts over this summer season, beautiful little pumpkins, Kaye they roasted up great!

Basically we have decided on a Similar structure as Violet town group with monthly meetings to be held on last Sunday of each month @ 1:30, see below for calendar, and a quarterly seedy Sunday that will be dedicated to seed collection, storage, and exchanging seeds.

Our next meeting will be held again at my house 658 Wyndham st Shepparton 27th April ( no march meeting) it will be a propagation day, so bring along any herbaceous cuttings if you have any and hopefully we will have Dora(ex herb wholesaler) along, to share her expertise of herbs.


So spread the word and see you all then. Carley

April In the Patch

April in the GV area means getting in quick crops before the frost and planting the more hardy winter veg. Carrot, garlic, cauliflower, spinach,silverbeet, kale,endive spring onions,leeks, parsnip, seedlings of broccoli, cabbage and if your quick or have a warm sunny spot some Asian veges. I'm using foam boxes to get some spring onions going (left).

Get your soil into action! - Get all the little critters and bacteria working for you enrich with compost, grow a green manure; mustard, barley, use watery solutions; compost tea, seaweed solutions.

Start applying dolomite to beds destined for onions, leafy veges and spring brassicas, also to drip line of fruit trees. don't apply nitrogen based fertilisers for a fortnight after dolomite application.

Keep an eye on cabbage butterfly, scale on citrus, and birds trying to steal those ripening figs!

Harvest Pumpkins before severe frosts set in and damage stems and leave out to cure.My 3 pumpkins MARINA DE CHIOGGIA harvested this year, due to space I kept the vine pinched back quite hard. Dark green dimpled skin with dry sweet flesh, quite large and good stems, apparently the Italians choice for pumpkin gnocchi.